LSX E39 BMW Wagon

Every now and then I’ll waffle on about what makes a good build thread. My list of requirements usually includes nice photography, good writing, quality modifications, and the ability to tell a story. Well this is one of those threads, and I can always tell when I really like one because reading it isn’t a chore, it’s a pleasure that I never want to end, no matter how many pages I click through. The owner, Brandon, says goodbye to his very clean M52 turbo powered E34 525i and then sets out to build a manual LSX powered E39 wagon, documenting the build with images that look like they’ve been plucked straight out of a catalogue. When you see his collection of previous rides, you realise he’s one of those people who have a kind of midas touch when it comes to cars, knowing how to show restraint and refine a car with carefully chosen improvements, no matter what the make, model or era.

Thanks to Pearson for submitting. Click here for more BMW builds, or here for more engine conversions.

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BMW M1

Don’t you hate it when you find an original Le Mans bodyshell of a BMW M1 Group 5 race car, and you have to build your own chassis for it? What a drag! Oh wait, that doesn’t usually happen, does it? Well it does in this thread, prepare yourself…

Thanks to Bastien for submitting via the Facebook page.

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F20C-powered BMW 2002

Over the past 3+ years that I’ve been running this site, there’s been a few builds out there that are so popular they get submitted to me by multiple readers, and this thread falls into that category. However, the submissions weren’t even necessary this time, as I have been lucky enough to follow this build since the thread was first created. Kevin, the cars owner, is a one man building machine, doing everything on this little BMW, from fabrication to bodywork, rust repairs to paint, and now the currently-in-progress F20C engine conversion. I’ve personally enjoyed every update of this well-photographed thread, and hope you will keep following it.

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E46 M3 Road-to-Race

How many times have you caught yourself daydreaming about turning your road-going pride and joy into an all-out race car? A stripped interior, beefy roll cage, some fixed bucket seats, sticky rubber, top of the line suspension, and of course some engine upgrades to round it off…sound accurate? Come and take a look as a lucky E46 M3 road car gets the race car make over we all desire.

Thanks to Jaime for submitting.

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BMW E30 V8 $2010 Challenge

What better way to kick off the new year than with one of the most popular platforms in the word for modifying, the BMW E30. This E30, concocted by the team at Vorshlag, was built to compete in the Grassroots Motorsports $2010 Challenge, and then went on to win the $2012 event the following year. Watch as it goes through three engine swaps and two paint-schemes, all while being cleverly modified by the Vorshlag team to be competitive while keeping under the budget limit.

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FMU BMW X5

Confession: I’ve had a long-running man-crush on Fluid Motor Union ever since I first stumbled across their posts on the StanceWorks forums. Their famous flame-spitting Gallardo image is my Ps3 wallpaper, every day I look forward to their in-depth posts about the latest goings-on at the shop, and I constantly day-dream of sending my Datto over to the land of 1-gallon soda cups for a bespoke one-off FMU exhaust system. Not only do they do some of the cleanest and most impressive fabrication work I’ve seen, but they take the time to document their daily activities on their own blog and various forums, so people like you and me can enjoy gawking at glorious TIG beads from our computer screens all over the world.

Recently the team embarked on giving a damaged BMW X5 a new lease on life, but kept a lot of the progress shrouded in secrecy, until now…

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BMW E46 V8 Drift build

I saw a video of this beastly creation a couple of weeks ago and the first thing that struck me about it was the appearance of the car without it’s rear bodywork. I love how the builder has almost created the car in a ute/pickup fashion, making the bodywork rear of the b-pillar detachable for easy access to the rear section of the chassis and driveline. To my delight, a Latvian reader submitted a link which showcases the build of this unique BMW (or what’s left of it), read on for more details…

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V12 BMW E30

When I look back at the 4 BMW E30s I’ve featured on the site in the past, it’s interesting to see that only one of them retained it’s original motor. The other three were powered by an RB26DETT, an E39 M5 V8, and an E60 M5 V10. So that means we’ve had 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder, 8 cylinder, and 10 cylinder E30’s, so where to from here? Well a V12 is really the only natural progression…

Thanks to Archie for submitting.

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BMW 2002 restoration

I’m noticing more and more BMW 2002’s popping up on forums and blogs lately, and I finally got to see two fine examples in the flesh at the recent Stance|Works Melbourne meet. To say I’m a fan would be an understatement, I love these little things, so maybe the increased exposure is all in my head because I want to see more of them. Regardless, I was fishing through my submissions folder and became disgusted with myself after noticing this build just sitting there, waiting to be featured. This build is just that little bit more special considering it was the owners first car. After being in storage for 10 years, he dusts off the cobwebs and begins a very detailed restoration, bringing it back to better than factory condition. I’m really in awe over just how much work the owner takes on himself, dabbling in just about every aspect of the build, my hat is tipped!

Thanks to Sebastian for the link.

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School’s in! V12 Diablo replica

Dave from Stance Is Everything must be the hardest working guy in the automotive blog network, every time I check his site there’s a bunch of new posts and updates, which is much more than I can say for myself! I remember reading an older post of his where he reminisced about the influence his old high school auto-shop teacher had on him, and I thought to myself how cool it would have been to have a teacher who was in to cars, let alone actually have auto-shop available as a class (my school never provided it). Fast-forward to last week, Dave put up a new post about the most recent work his old teacher has undertaken, a tube-frame Lamborghini Diablo replica powered by a BMW V12. Sure beats the usual Pontiac Fiero based replicas, talk about stepping it up!

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